


Better Friends

by singedsun



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Stream (Critical Role)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-18 00:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21968740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singedsun/pseuds/singedsun
Summary: "Tell your bear I'm a friend, would ya?""Are you though?" Vex tilted her head and examined her brother, dusting off several errant leaves that were stuck to his armor. "You've twice now tried to shoo him off into the woods when I wasn't looking."
Relationships: Trinket & Vex'ahlia (Critical Role), Vax'ildan & Vex'ahlia (Critical Role)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17
Collections: Critmas Exchange 2019





	Better Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LiveLaughLoveLarry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLoveLarry/gifts).



> Merry Critmas! I hope you had a happy holiday and that this fic brings you a bit more joy. I love imaging what the twins must've been like pre-stream and had fun imagining them far younger, with a very young Trinket.

"Trinket," Vex soothed. "I need you to be calm now, alright? Just give us a moment."

Vex stretched a hand down to her brother who had fallen arse first into the pile of dead brush after tripping over a rock. His face was flushed with embarrassment and exertion as he tried to extract himself from the mess. He gripped Vex's hand and let himself be hauled back on to his feet.

"Tell your bear I'm a friend, would ya?"

"Are you though?" Vex tilted her head and examined her brother, dusting off several errant leaves that were stuck to his armor. "You've twice now tried to shoo him off into the woods when I wasn't looking."

"I'm just testing him," Vax said, shrugging.

Her brother had been like this for awhile and it wasn't just Trinket. She knew he didn't like being outside of the city for long periods of time. But it was hard to ignore that her adorable bear cub had grown into a full-sized bear in the past months. They'd needed work elsewhere and she'd needed to get Trinket outside, into the forest and the world beyond.

"I've bonded with him, you numpty. I'm going to know where he is. Even if you do manage to spook him into walking in the wrong direction."

"I don't think he needs our protection, Stubby."

Vex sighed, eyes rolling. "Look, I don't know what this is, Vax'ildan, but --"

Trinket roared, rearing back and pushed himself up onto his back legs. Even if he wasn't a cub anymore, Trinket was still small for a bear, but taller than either of them when up on his hind legs. Vex turned immediately, looking at her bear and trying to follow his line of sight into the woods to see what had him spooked.

"Vax--" she whispered, gesturing for her brother to hide. She nocked an arrow and pointed out into the forest as Trinket landed on his front paws and barreled forward after something. "Trinket," she yell-whispered after him. "Where is he going?"

She followed the bear, knowing her brother would be close behind whether she could see him or not. Trinket had torn after something and while she hadn't known the bear very long, wasn't something that seemed very much like him. Vex ran, bow held loose in one hand as she pumped her arms to catch up to Trinket. She was out of breath when she finally found him, reared up on his hind legs again.

In a small clearing was a pack of goblins surrounding a large bear, not that dissimilar from Trinket. The goblins had spears and javelins, one of them lodged in the side of the large bear. Vex watched as a small bear cub peeked around the hind legs of it's protector, snuffling at the ground as the goblins closed in. For just a moment, Vex remembered another large wounded bear with a cub to protect. One she hadn't been able to help.

Trinket roared and pounced on the closest goblin. Vex quickly had her bow up and an arrow nocked, aiming at the goblin Trinket had toppled to the ground. Somewhere behind her, Vax sighed and a moment later a dagger soared into the clearing, clipping the ear of another goblin.

"We're really doing this?" He asked a moment later.

"Looks like it!" Vex shot another goblin, arrow lodging itself into the shoulder of the small creature. "You get them, Trinket!" She yelled encouragingly.

It was frustrating that Trinket had run off on his own, not that he couldn't said anything to Vex, but clearly there was a learning curve on this whole 'having an animal companion' thing that she and Trinket needed to figure out. At least this was for a good cause, she thought. She would've had Vax out here to save this poor wounded creature and it's cub, if they'd come across them on another day.

Her brother's shadow flashed in the corner over her vision and a moment later another arrow went flying from another tree lining the clearing. She suspected Vax had taken more to Trinket than he liked to admit and he definitely wasn't one to complain about getting into another scrape, willingly or not. He'd been restless since they'd left Byroden to follow a posting for work further into the Rifenmist and suspected he missed the city and all it's tiny back alleys more than he let on.

"Trinket, watch on your right!" Vex shouted as another goblin ran out, spear in hand at Trinket's right flank.

She watched the bear spin slightly, front paw kicking the goblin under him away as he moved. The goblin rolled and Vex saw the streak of dark scratch marks on its face and trails of dark blood pooling over it's makeshift armor. Well that was one less goblin to worry about.

The bear Trinket had rushed to save was backing up from the fight, growling low and her head moving back and forth, watching for goblins.

Vex drew back and fired at the goblin harassing Trinket's back flank, catching it through the ear as she misjudged the arc in her attempt not to catch the bear in the line of her arrow. It squealed and unleashed a series of intensely heated words none of them understood. When it tried to run a moment later, Vax sent a knife spiraling directly into its back.

It wasn't much longer before there were five dead or dying goblins on the ground. Both half-elves were breathless but unwounded and Trinket snuffled the ground between them and the other bear.

Vex approached, dropping her bow and holding her hands low. "Hey Trinket, any chance you could tell this lady that I'm nice? That we won't hurt her or her baby?" She patted Trinket's back and scritched deep into the fur on the back of his neck. He sat back and made a soft sound deep in his throat that sounded a little like a cat's purr, that she recognized as appreciation. "You did good, Buddy. Really good."

The other bear kept a wary eye on them, stepping back further as Vax emerged from the trees and started going through the pockets and pouches on the goblins.

"That was fun," her brother commented. He pulled a handful of copper out from one pouch and promptly disappeared it into his cloak. "Need a leash for your friend there, I think." He gestured at Trinket and looked at his sister with a wink.

"Very funny. I could put it on you and let Trinket hold the other end?"

Vax chuckled. Vex wanted to look over at her brother but didn't want to break her concentration on the wounded bear, just in case. She wished her skills at healing were better, or that she was better calming creatures so she could offer some sort of help to the other bear. It had been easy with Trinket, he'd only been a small cub himself at the time and had been locked away.

"I don't like letting her go back out on her own," Vex said.

Vax stopped his rifling and looked over at the retreating bear and her cub. "She'll be alright through, won't she?"

Vex sighed. "Most likely. I only saw the one spot where she was hurt, I think. It should heal, but it's going to hurt for a little while and she's got that little one…"

Her brother picked up one of the spears and held it aloft, eyeing the length of it. "Pretty sure it won't stay wedged in her long, this thing has got to be like a splinter for her."

"I hope so." Vex exhaled in a frustrated huff and leaned against her own bear. "Trinket, what do you think?"

Her bear made a noise she could only hope meant that he agreed the other bear would be fine on her own. He leaned into her weight and lifted his head to nuzzle under her chin. She petted his muzzle.

"We have to talk about some boundaries, I think," she said to Trinket. "So you know when it's okay to run off and when it's not. This was very nice of you, Buddy, and I'm glad we helped her, but I don't want you running off all the time."

Vax, having dropped the goblin spear and gone back to looting the last of the goblins, looked over at them. He was crouched low, hair hanging over his shoulders, holding up an emblem of some kind. It was attached to a cord around the goblin's neck.

"She's right, you know." Vax's voice was even but serious. "I'm not allowed to run around and attack wild bands of goblins on my own either. We're a team here."

Vex nodded solemnly. "You bet your ass." She scanned the clearing to make sure the other bear and cub were gone before walking over to Vax to look at the emblem. Vax yanked on the chain to pull it free and handed it to her. "Huh," she said.

"You said it."

"Well if they were going after a bear, they must be hurting for food." Vex sighed and looked back at Trinket. "They're going to be missing these guys soon and if no one stops them, that momma bear isn't going to last long."

"So we go after them?"

She nodded and watched as Vax unfolded himself, drawing himself up to her height. He nodded back. She called back to Trinket and he lumbered over to them, brushing himself against her hand. He sniffed at the small necklace in her hand, wet nose darkening the stone with goblin emblem painted in the center.

"We do."


End file.
